The Royal Wedding

I've just finished watching the Royal Wedding with our Kate and (a bit) with Jack. I wasn't particularly bothered about watching it live... until I awoke around 5:30 this morning and it dawned on me that someday Kate might ask why I didn't watch the wedding of her (future) queen & king. So she and I curled up on the couch and watched. (Well, I watched while she slept soundly in my arms):


As Mick pointed out, "it's probably a good thing she's sleeping through it; avoids the awkward questions from her about why she's English but isn't a princess."

Jack woke just as Kate & William were leaving Westminster Abbey and he was beyond thrilled to see all the horses. Here he is, along with his elephant Hip Hip, enthralled with the procession:


Here are a few of his comments from our viewing time together:

"I like the horseys, and the men with the funny hats on."
"I think the horses are going to turn left and go to Papa's house."
"Look! A band! I love that band!"

Jack: "Where are they going next?"
Me: "To the palace."
Jack: "And what are they going to do at the palace?"
Me: "Have some food."
Jack: "What kind of food?"
Me: "Hmmm, I'm not sure."
Jack: "I think they're going to have some pasta!"

Golfin' USA

While in California last week to spend time at corporate HQ, I drove down to see Doug and Jodie, old friends from Virginia Tech. They, and their 8-year old son, Milo, live in Pacific Grove, a stone's throw from Pebble Beach, Spyglass Hill, and many other championship courses.

Forsaking the high-priced golf, Doug and I played Pacific Grove (known as the "poor man's Pebble") and Monterey Park. Milo walked several holes with us and was nice enough to carry my bag for a while. Makes me look forward to taking Jack out on the course one day, if only to look for lobsters and ants.

Here are a couple of photos from Pacific Grove.

6 Weeks

Somehow, our little girl is six-weeks-old today. Where the time has gone eludes me. However, when I look at Jack, who has definitely outgrown his baby/toddler body and now really looks like a little kid, I know that the time will continue to fly.

Kate continues to be an absolute pleasure. Last night, she didn't wake up for a feed until 5:00 am, which was fantastic as I had last fed her around 11 pm. Mick gave her a bottle at 5:00 while I dozed - blissful! Mick's been fantastic about doing the middle-of-the-night feeding for me. While I don't sleep soundly through it, I do rest, and I love knowing that Mick gets some special one-on-one time with Kate.

Kate has completely outgrown her newborn clothing and one of my jobs for this weekend is to get out all of her size 3 month clothes. It is so bittersweet to pack the tiny things away as I absolutely love the baby stage... but when I look at Jack now, at an age I completely love, I kind of can't wait for Kate to grow and change and become her own person. Yet I don't want these times to end. Convoluted, I know.

Here are some pictures of Kate over the last few days. (Sorry the quality isn't great; I never have my camera with me so almost all of these are taken with my phone. You can click on the picture to enlarge it if you need to.)

Our first walk (outside) yesterday.

Alert & smiley

Bath time

All snuggled and cozy

As for Jack, he continues to (mostly) be a big help to me. Luckily, it's a source of pride for him to help so I am milking that for all it's worth. He's great at bringing me diapers, throwing dirty ones away, getting me a burp cloth or tissue if I need one, picking up his toys, etc.

The big news as related to Jack is that we've FINALLY had some success on the potty! I really want to get Jack into preschool in the fall (he'll be three in August) and he really should be potty trained before school starts. I had absolutely no energy to think about potty training while I was pregnant, aside from reading him tons of books and talking a LOT about the potty. But he showed absolutely no interest so, a few weeks ago, I ended up moving his little potty to the basement and figured I'd give it a real try this summer.

However, randomly one day last week, Jack told me he needed to use his potty so I dashed downstairs to get it, sat him down, read some stories, and lo and behold, he went! Actually, he then went four times in the space of an hour (of course, every time he told me he needed to go again, I doubted him because, really... four times in an hour!?!?). This so classically fit Jack's personality and it proves what I've been telling people all along: he'll do it when he's ready and no one can convince him it's time unless he actually wants to learn!

Very exciting - first go on the potty (note the stickers on the floor next to him, just waiting to be given as a reward!)

Wearing real underpants (and a sticker on his shirt)!

So of course, I made a huge deal about his success and how proud of him I was (as was Daddy and Kate and the grandparents and the aunts & uncles...) and then we promptly headed to Target for a some new underpants for him (he chose Thomas the Train). I now have a sticker chart going in the bathroom as well since he seems to respond well to receiving stickers as a reward (that was how we successfully managed the transition to the bed). I think I may give him a little something special (the dollar store is PERFECT for this kind of thing!) every time he fills a row with stickers and hopefully we can reward him with a trip to Chicago once he's fully potty trained. (He's been begging for months to go to Chicago on the train and it's certainly a vacation I think we can easily do as a family once the spring in finally here.)

Mick has tons of travel in April, so I was at my parents' last week with the kids so I could have some extra help (which was much needed & much appreciated as Jack was incredibly challenging the first half of the week). I will post pictures from our stay in the near future...